By Louis Sealey

Copyright metro

Ex-England striker Peter Crouch (Picture: TNT Sports)

Peter Crouch says Manchester United failed to ‘address’ the ‘obvious issue’ in their squad despite spending almost £200m on new signings last summer.

The Red Devils bolstered Ruben Amorim’s struggling squad with the additions of Benjamin Sesko, Bryan Mbeumo, Matheus Cunha and Senne Lammens.

The summer recruits are yet to have the desired effect, however, with United only winning two of their first seven games of the season.

Manchester United’s latest defeat came at the hands of Brentford, with Keith Andrews’ side winning 3-1 at the GTech Community Stadium on Saturday.

Igor Thiago scored a first-half brace and Mathias Jensen put the game to bed with an injury-time goal after Benjamin Sesko gave United hope with his first goal in the Premier League.

Red Devils captain Bruno Fernandes missed a penalty to draw the visitors level in the second half.

Altay Bayindir was once again in goal for United, with £18m signing Lammens still waiting to make an appearance following his deadline-day move from Royal Antwerp.

Current Manchester United No. 1 Altay Bayindir (Picture: Getty)

Crouch believes the arrival of Lammens means United essentially have ‘three number two’ goalkeepers rather than one standout No. 1.

The ex-England striker says United failed to ‘address’ the goalkeeper situation in the summer and is surprised the Manchester giants did not bring in Gianluigi Donnarumma or Emiliano Martinez.

United considered moves for both Donnarumma and Martinez but the former ended up joining Manchester City and the latter stayed put at Aston Villa.

Aston Villa goalkeeper Emiliano Martinez (Picture: Getty)

‘It feels to me that the situation with the goalkeeper just hasn’t been addressed,’ Crouch told TNT Sports before Manchester United’s defeat to Brentford.

‘It feels like they’ve got three number twos now. It’s an issue that was obvious, Andre Onana wasn’t going to be the No. 1, we knew that at the start of the season but the situation still hasn’t been addressed.

‘They brought in Senne Lammens but he’s not starting yet, he’s a young lad who’s only had one full season in football.

‘I don’t know why when you’ve got Donnarumma or Martinez available the situation wasn’t resolved.

‘They don’t think Lammens is ready, he’s still a young man so maybe he will be in the future. But United have always had dominant goalkeepers, look at Peter Schmeichel and Edwin van der Sar.

‘With Martinez, it felt obvious for him to come in, he’s dominant and fits the stature and personnel that Manchester United need.’

United will be desperate to produce a better performance and a victory next weekend when they return to action against Sunderland.

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